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Author: Adam Gittlin

ISBN: 9781933515137

Thirty-year old Jonah Gray, the protagonist in Adam Gittlin’s The Deal is enjoying a life that probably many in his age group would envy. He is a hot-shot real estate broker and a member of a very successful team at Platinum Commercial Building and Land (PCBL), one of the most prestigious New York real estate companies with a worldwide reputation.

There is plenty of wine, women, drugs, partying, deal making, and other goodies that are accessible to Jonah, who incidentally is the son of a real estate mogul, and as we discover will have quite an influence on Jonah’s life.

One day Jonah receives a phone call from a Russian boyhood friend, Andreu Zhamovsky that eventually would turn his life upside down.

Andreu was the son of Jonah’s parents' friends, Alexander and Galina Zhamovsky. Alexander was a key player in Russia’s natural reserve ministry. After the fall of the iron curtain, Alexander was awarded the largest ownership in, and control of Prevkos, which today is one of the world’s most vital natural gas corporations. Unfortunately, Alexander tragically died in 1998 and Andreu became a key in running Prevkos since his father’s untimely death.

Andreu presents Jonah with a proposition of a lifetime when he asks him to put together a humongous real estate deal for Prevkos that would involve the acquisition of a portfolio of prime commercial New York real estate costing a half a billion dollars.  The only fly in the ointment is that the deal must close within three weeks. This is quite an undertaking when you consider that before title to the buildings is transferred there must be due diligence involving everything from roof inspections to systems evaluations to the property’s code compliance history of zoning and many other elements that must be checked.

Jonah at first is astounded at the magnitude of the task, however, not one to back away from such a lucrative deal, he decides to approach his three other associates, Tommy Wingate, who he considered his mentor, Jake Donald and Perry York. All were quite capable and together they formed an awesome group. After some nudging, they agree to take on the transaction wherein Jake, Perry and Jonah would work independently to put together three different deals that would pit them against one another in order to weed out the most favourable one. As for Tommy, he would fill in and take over all of their other pending deals in order that they would be able to devote their entire energy and time to the Prevkos undertaking. It should also be pointed out that Andreu gave Jonah a restrictive power of attorney that would permit him to carry out a variety of tasks in connection with the deal. This is something that we later learn will play a pivotal role in the outcome of the story.

To obscure matters and as if Jonah does not have enough on his plate, during a week-end of partying at a client's wedding, he meets up with a very attractive and sexy woman, Angie, who turns out to be a character similar to Glenn Close in the movie Fatal Attraction. And on top of this complication, Jonah becomes involved with a stranger who is running from the law and who hides one of the famous stolen Fabergé eggs among Jonah’s briefcase.

In the meantime back at the PCBL office, Jonah’s three associates don’t have a clue as to what is going on with Jonah and the Fabergé egg or his encounter with Angie who by the way turns out to be an impostor. Moreover, not only is Jonah in danger but also he may have indirectly involved his three associates in something they never dreamed of when they agreed to take on the Prevkos deal.

Gittlin is quite familiar with the wheeling and dealing of the New York real estate scene as he oversees the managing and leasing of his family’s properties in New York and Florida. This knowledge comes in very handy as The Deal effectively combines the suspense of a Grisham thriller with a captivating drama concerning the famous fabled Fabergé imperial Easter eggs that, in the words of Gittlin, “stand among the world’s most celebrated artistic achievements.” However, I do have one comment, The Deal would have been more satisfying if it were shortened by at least fifty pages, as I felt that towards the end it became a bit draggy. Nonetheless, it is still a great read.